I can not believe it – I made it to Lake Como!! Thanks so much to all my amazing customers & friends you are totally awesome!! I will be continuing my Italian Cooking Adventures until I make it to 50 recipes to celebrate 🙂

If I was a nail biter I’d be biting them right now lol!!

Here is the latest update for operation Lake Como – 30 Sales in 30 Days – Challenge accepted!! Things are about to get even crazier!!

Thanks to all my friends & customers for their ongoing support for my Thermomix Business 🙂

I am sooooo excited!! As an Independent Thermomix Consultant we have the opportunity to earn our way to a reward trip to Lake Como in Italy, including a guided foodie tour by WA Chef Nico Moretti!!

Only the top selling 51 consultants from (1st Jan-30th June 2017) in Australia & New Zealand will get to go & I plan to be one of them. (We can sell a Thermomix to anyone in Australia)
Just for a bit of fun every time I get another point towards Lake Como, I am going to make an Italian recipe in the Thermomix & share the photo 🙂
Do you have any favourite Italian recipes you think I should try? I will only need to cook 50 plus recipes in the next 6 months!!

And anyone who hosts a Cooking Experience with 2 or more guests between 9th Jan & 30th April will go into the draw to win a Trip for 2 to Lake Como as well! I hope one of my customers wins the prize!

Join me as I cook my way through Italian Recipes using my Thermomix – 1 recipe for each time I make a sale – I need over 50 sales before the end of June to get to the Thermomix Reward Trip in Lake Como. I do love a good challenge.

The pasta & truffle polenta I bought at the Essential Ingredient in Newcastle 🙂

6: Tiramisu for 2 (in a jar – one for me & one for my friend & customer who upgraded her Thermomix at the start of March) I used the recipe from the Basic cookbook & added my own homemade vanilla bean paste. I made 1/3 of the recipe so I didn’t have to eat too much 🙂

7: Nico Moretti recipe for Spinach & Ricotta “Gnudi” – “Gnudi” are a classic Tuscan dish, and it’s like ravioli, but without the pasta (just the filling). These light & fluffy gnudi are STEAMED in the VAROMA and served with a fresh Salsa di Pomodoro (Tomato Pasta Sauce)

8. A regular recipe made at our place is homemade pesto, delicious as a quick sauce on pasta or spread on toast with fresh homegrown tomatoes is just heaven.

9. Nico Moretti’s recipe for White Chocolate Pannacotta

10. A family favourite Lasagne – all the elements are cooked in the Thermomix the meat sauce, the béchamel white sauce, the fresh pasta dough & grated cheese. Then into the oven YUM!!

Italian Pantry Shopping – opps someone drank the prosecco 🙂

11. Italian Style Lamb Shank served on Cauli mash with truffle salt. The sauce was made in the Thermomix then poured over the lamb shanks that went into the oven in a casserole dish slow cooked for 2 hours.

12. Puttanesca sauce made in the Thermomix & I cooked the dry pasta I bought at the essential ingredient. (A favourite Italian recipe from one of my customers who just upgraded to a new Thermomix)

13. Potato Sciacciata recipe from In the Mix 2, a Tuscan version of focaccia with potato in it.

18. Osso Bucco – I make the sauce in the Thermomix & seal the floured Osso Bucco meat in a pan & then baked in the oven with the sauce for 2 hours 🙂

19. Orechiette Con Broccoli – another Nico Moretti recipe from his Delicious Journeys cookbook. I cooked the sauce in the Thermomix & the pasta & broccoli in a big pot.

20. Chicken Cacciatore recipe from The Basic Cookbook

21. Meatballs in Tomato sauce with mushrooms. I added mushrooms to the recipe from The Basic Cookbook. We have made it many times at my customers Thermomix Cooking experiences (The meatballs are steamed over a tomato sauce)

22. Italian Hot Chocolate

22. Ciabatta

23. Torte Pasqualina – I accidentally didn’t get the recipe right lol!! I cracked all my egg into the mixture & then realised I was supposed to keep some whole lol!!

27. Tajarin with truffle butter & truffled egg yolk 🙂 Recipe from the truffle cookbook by Rodney Dunn – I just thermofied the recipe where I could 🙂 I used the truffle I bought from Duncan Garvey Perigord Truffles of Tasmania ❤️

28. Gnocco Fritto, deep fried bread. I made the dough in the Thermomix 🙂

48. Pizza Bianca, made so many times for Thermomix Cooking Experiences 🙂

49. Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi with Burnt Sage Butter & Spinach

50. Bolognese Sauce – we make this all the time but I kept forgetting to take a photo of it!!

Time to celebrate!! I finished cooking my 50 Italian style recipes just 2 weeks before I will arrive in Lake Como Italy!! This is my new Thermomix model 5 called Bimby (Italian name for Thermomix) I earned this Thermomix while earning my trip to Italy & also sold my 400th Thermomix in that period too! I’m saying Saluti with a glass of Prosecco – Italian sparkling wine 🙂 Thanks everyone so much for all your support for my Thermomixing!!

Making lasagne completely from scratch is so easy with a Thermomix, I even had a customer who was “allowed” to buy a thermomix if she promised to make her hubby lasagne once a week 🙂 I must say it is a family favourite comfort food recipe that’s for sure an awesome way of earning brownie points with the rest of the family to to serve homemade lasagne.

Today I needed to make a double batch of Lasagne one for our family & one for my friend who has a new baby. Fresh pasta dough is so easy, you can use the guided recipe. Then I chopped cheddar cheese on speed 5 for about 5 secs & parmesan cheese on speed 10 for 5 secs.

Making white sauce is super easy another great guided recipe on the Thermomix recipe chip.

Then adding the cheese & mixing it in YUM!!

Rolled out fresh pasta using a pasta machine.

After cooking the pasta in boiling water for a couple of mins it’s time to build the lasagne. A layer of pasta.

Then the bolognese sauce another guided recipe, for great bolognese sauce be careful if you use low fat mince it is ground up super fine & even being stirred constantly on low speed & reverse it will give your sauce a grainy texture. You can either make your own mince meat or don’t chop it up so much or put the mince in the simmering basket as you do the cooking it will still be in the sauce but away from the blades. I love using at least 2 cloves of garlic & onion, fresh basil, oregano & parsley, bacon or half pork & half beef mince, a splash of red wine & if I have them cherry tomatoes add a bit of sweetness, not to mention all the veggies I throw into the Thermomix, celery, carrot, mushrooms, red capsicum & zucchini And some tomato paste & Thermomix Veggie stock paste to boost the flavour even more.

I like to put a pasta layer on the bolognese layer & then the cheese sauce. repeating this process twice.

It’s messy fun!! Then sprinkle more cheese on top & bake till crispy on top about 30 mins at 180 degrees.